Robert Lee Sutherland
Script error: No such module "Draft topics". Script error: No such module "AfC topic". Script error: No such module "AfC submission catcheck".
Robert Lee Sutherland (11 February 1903 - 19 November 1976) was an American sociologist, professor, and first director of the Hogg Foundation for Mental Health at the University of Texas at Austin.[1]
Early life and education[edit]
Sutherland was born on February 11, 1903 to attorney Donald Grant Sutherland and his wife Charlotte. The family moved to Seattle, Washington and later to Galesburg, Illinois.[2]
During his years at Knox College, he worked as an editor of the college annual, won the Bancroft Oratorical Contest, and served as a member of the Phi Beta Kappa, Delta Sigma Rho, and Sigma Delta Chi. He received his Bachelor’s degree in sociology at Knox College in 1925. He would later return to Knox College in 1940 to receive the Alumni Award and again in 1958 to receive an honorary doctor of laws degree.[1]
In 1927, he received his Master’s degree in theology from Oberlin College and accepted a position as a professor of public speaking at Huron College. In 1930, he returned to school to earn his Ph.D. in social ethics and sociology at the University of Chicago.[2]
Career[edit]
Sociology professor[edit]
Sutherland was a professor of sociology at Bucknell University from 1930 to 1940. Here he co-wrote Introductory Sociology (1937) with Julian L. Woodward. This text would become the leading source in the field and go through six editions in the following twenty-five years. In 1940, with his appointment to the position of executive director of the Hogg Foundation, he assumed a professorship of sociology at the University of Texas at Austin.
Hogg Foundation for Mental Health[edit]
In 1940, Sutherland was chosen by founder Ima Hogg and UT President Homer Rainey as the first executive director of the Hogg Foundation for Mental Hygiene (later renamed to the Hogg Foundation of Mental Health) at the University of Texas.[3]
Throughout the early years of the Hogg Foundation, Sutherland struggled to reconcile Ima Hogg’s strong advocacy for a focus on the promotion of mental hygiene and the external pressure to focus on education and lectureships.[2] From 1941 to 1944, the Foundation financed a series of lecture tours known as “circuit riders for mental health.” Sutherland used his professional connections to arrange these traveling speakers who informed Texans of preventative and therapeutic approaches to mental health issues. They traveled through hundreds of towns to deliver speeches in community centers, churches, and school gymnasiums about current mental health issues.[4] This group of speakers, including Margaret Mead, emulated Sutherland’s “quasi-religious sense of mission” in their efforts.[2]
He served in this position until the end of his professional career in 1966. In 1974, he was named president emeritus of the Hogg Foundation.[5]
Seminar[edit]
The Robert Lee Sutherland Seminar is a biennial event put on by the Hogg Foundation that aims to increase awareness of mental health concepts. Each seminar has a theme that reflects current issues in the field. The inaugural seminar in 1978 was named “A Legacy of Dialogue for the Advancement of Mental Health in Texas'' and had First Lady Rosalynn Carter as a keynote speaker. Over 1,000 people gathered to analyze the impact of the U.S. President’s Commission on Mental Health Report for the people of Texas.[6]
Professional involvement[edit]
Sutherland was an active member of the board of trustees for several schools and organizations over the course of his life. These included Stephens College (1943–52), the Texas Women’s Foundation (1946–50), Knox College (1958–65), the Foundation Library Center (1958–64), the National Advisory Council on Dental Research (1960–63), and the Council on Foundations (1967–73).[1] He organized and served as a lifetime board member of the Conference of Southwest Foundations (later renamed Philanthropy Southwest), a collaborative grantmaking organization that focuses its efforts on the southwestern United States.[7] Sutherland was also elected to and served as an active member of Phi Kappa Phi, an honor society that recognizes academic excellence, and to the Philosophical Society of Texas, an organization that focuses on funding, research, and preservation of culturally significant materials.[8]
Death[edit]
Sutherland died on November 19, 1976. He was buried at Austin Memorial Park Cemetery. The Texas Senate passed a memorial resolution acknowledging his lifelong contributions to the state.[1]
References[edit]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 "TSHA | Sutherland, Robert Lee". www.tshaonline.org. Retrieved 2022-02-18.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 author., Bush, William S., 1967-. Circuit riders for mental health : the Hogg Foundation in twentieth-century Texas. pp. 22–24. ISBN 1-62349-445-1. OCLC 944408738. Search this book on
- ↑ Health., Hogg Foundation for Mental (1970). The Hogg Foundation for Mental Health the first three decades, 1940-1970. University of Texas. OCLC 598413296. Search this book on
- ↑ HistPhil (2017-09-20). "The Hidden Histories of Regional Philanthropy: The Case of the Hogg Foundation for Mental Health". HistPhil. Retrieved 2022-02-18.
- ↑ "Hogg Foundation for Mental Health | History Timeline". Hogg Foundation. Retrieved 2022-02-18.
- ↑ "Robert Lee Sutherland Seminar". Hogg Foundation. Retrieved 2022-02-18.
- ↑ "What We Do". Philanthropy Southwest. 2012-12-17. Retrieved 2022-02-18.
- ↑ "About the Society - Philosophical Society of Texas". pstx.org. Retrieved 2022-02-18.
External links[edit]
- Hogg Foundation for Mental Health official website
- Robert Lee Sutherland Papers at the Dolph Briscoe Center for American History
This article "Robert Lee Sutherland" is from Wikipedia. The list of its authors can be seen in its historical and/or the page Edithistory:Robert Lee Sutherland. Articles copied from Draft Namespace on Wikipedia could be seen on the Draft Namespace of Wikipedia and not main one.
